My Barefoot Puddle Jumpers

It's 11:30 p.m. and the rest of my family is asleep.  As so many mothers are doing right now all over the world (I imagine) I was thinking over all of the things I have to do tomorrow and my brain was firing off so many things at once that I was having a hard time keeping up: I need to fold the mountain of laundry in the basket...what are we going to have for breakfast, and for that matter, lunch, and dinner too...we have to be at archery class tomorrow evening at 5:00...I need to call the doctor and make a follow up appointment for Little O...what things do I need to remember to bring up at my morning meeting at work...crap I forgot to plug my phone into the charger...oh no (!) Darth Vader is in the car and what if Big J wakes up wanting him in the middle of the night (I can't believe that kid sleeps with a toy villain every night)...maybe I should sneak out there now and get him...but what if I wake him up when I go in to put the toy in his bed...I really should have swept up all that popcorn the twins gleefully tossed all over the living room before bed like flower girls at a wedding but I'm so, so tired...etc., etc., and on and on until the thought of what I should do tomorrow with the boys after my meeting popped into my head.  After all, I can't stand staying home and there are so many things I want to do with them and so many places I want to take them and...OH. MY. GOD. Big J starts kindergarten in less than a year! This stopped me in my tracks.

Now I'm sitting here in a puddle of emotions thinking about how little time I have before my baby is gone forever (ok, I know he will still be living in my house but I'm really going to miss him during the school day and I am also really sleep deprived.) When you have a baby, everyone tells you that these first years go by so quickly and that you should cherish them.  I remember having a hard time believing such things having spent so much time covered in spit up and at such a high level of exhaustion but right now I know that they were right. So, because I want to remember this crazy, messy, beautiful season I am starting this blog as a record of it.